A place to discover unique and timeless ways to use ink to enhance your projects and your life.

Thursday, February 26, 2009

It's the Luck of the Irish, doncha know

While shopping for groceries last week, my son wanted to buy a box of Lucky Charms cereal because there was a car inside as a prize. After putting away the box, it ocurred to me that he was my lucky charm, thus giving me the idea for this card. I stamped the letters using the KI Memories Alpha stamps and the Studio G St. Pat's Day acrylic stamps. The rainbow was created using colored embossing markers and puffy paint on the clouds. The hat was colored using Derwent Metallic colored pencils--it is a little hard to see the shading. While I was at it, I did several charms including a pint of ale and a pot of gold. You will see those on another card. The swirl is from Little Yellow Bicycle. To achieve the pseudo rainbow, I tore a piece of paper and used the edge to create my pattern and using a stipple brush, applied the various ink colors. I did not matte the rainbow, it has been applied directly to the card front.

Chicago is also famous for a somewhat peculiar annual event: dyeing the Chicago River green. The tradition started in 1962, when city pollution-control workers used dyes to trace illegal sewage discharges and realized that the green dye might provide a unique way to celebrate the holiday. That year, they released 100 pounds of green vegetable dye into the river—enough to keep it green for a week!

Today, in order to minimize environmental damage, only forty pounds of dye are used, making the river green for only several hours. Although Chicago historians claim their city 's idea for a river of green was original, some Savannah natives believe the idea originated in their town.

They point out that 1961, Savannah mayor Tom Woolley had plans for a green river, but due to rough water on March 17, the experiment didn 't work and Savannah never attempted to dye its river again.

Don't let that happen to you. Always use your dyes and Inks in the Name of Love.Until then.